ment which I had previously made with him, when he saw the difficulties I was in, and being aware that the easy part of my journey was now over, he threatened to leave me if I did not accept the conditions which he prescribed to me. I had also the misfortune to lose, during my stay here, my best camel, which I had bought from the governor of Kátsena for 60,000 shells; so that I was obliged to purchase another animal from Bú Bakr Maiguña at the price he demanded, camels here being very scarce.

Notwithstanding all this disagreeable business, which occasionally cost me much bitter reflection, greatly enhanced by the advance of the season, the month of May being at an end, and that of June having set in with violent rains, I passed the time during my residence in this place not quite uselessly, especially as I was so fortunate as to obtain here from a learned man of the name of Bokhári, a son of the late Mohammed Wáni, a copy of that most valuable historical work of A'hmed Bábá, to which my friend 'Abd el Káder, in Sókoto, had first called my attention, but without being able to satisfy my curiosity; and I spent three or four days most pleasantly in extracting the more important historical data of this work, which opened to me quite a new insight into the history of the regions on the middle course of the Niger, whither I was bending my steps, exciting in me a far more lively interest than I had previously felt in a kingdom the great power of

CHAP. LVIII.

AH'MED BA'BA'S WORK.

201

which, in former times, I here found set forth in very clear and distinct outlines, and I only lamented that I had not time enough to copy the whole.

As for the town of Gando itself, there was not much to be seen; and the situation of the place, hemmed in as it is in a narrow valley, did not admit of long excursions; moreover, the insecurity of the neighbourhood was so great that it was not possible, at least in a northerly direction, to proceed many yards from the wall. Several times during my stay the alarm was given that the enemy was approaching; and the whole political state of the place was plunged into the most terrible disorder, the enemy being established in several strong places at scarcely half a day's journey distance, Argúngo being the residence of Dáúd the rebellious chief of the independent Kábáwa. A numerous foray ("yáki,” or, as the Fúlbe say, "konno") left early in the morning of the 29th of May, but returned the same evening amid the noisy manifestations of the inhabitants. They had however only given an additional proof of their cowardly disposition, inasmuch as they had not even dared to attack the enemy, who had just succeeded in ransacking the town of Yára, and were carrying all the unfortunate inhabitants into slavery.

The interior of the place was not quite without its charms, the whole of the town being intersected, from north to south, by the broad and shallow bed of a torrent, which exhibited fine pasture-grounds of

fresh succulent herbage, while it was skirted on both sides by a dense border of exuberant vegetation, which altogether is much richer in this place than either in Sokoto or Wurno, being surpassed only by the fine vegetable ornament of Kanó. The rains are extremely plentiful in Gando, causing here quite an exceptional state in the productive power of the soil; and to this circumstance we have partly to ascribe the fact that very fine bananas are grown here in considerable quantity: and the fruit being just ripe at the time, formed a very pleasant variation to my usual food. The onion of Gando is remarkable for its size and quality, compared with that of all the neighbouring districts; and it is well for the traveller, in whatever direction he may intend to go, to lay in a supply of this wholesome article. But the place is extremely dull, and the market very insignificant-a fact easily to be explained by the desperate state of the provinces around, although the situation of the capital, as a central place for commerce, is rather favourable. But the town of Jéga has not yet lost, in this respect, the whole of its former importance, and is still the great entrepôt for that coarse kind of coloured silk which is imported from the north, and which, notwithstanding its very inferior character, is nevertheless so greatly sought after by the natives for adorning their leatherwork. It is, perhaps, in consequence of the little trade which is carried on, that the people of Gando have applied themselves with more industry

CHAP. LVIII. CLIMATE. EXTENT OF EMPIRE. 203

to supplying their own want of cotton cloth-and no one can deny that their cotton strips are of firstrate quality: their dyeing, on the contrary, is very coarse, and they seem quite unable to give to the dyed cloth that lustre which so eminently distinguishes the manufactures of Núpe and Kanó; but nevertheless this cloth of Gando is in great demand as far as Libtáko.

The kingdom or empire of Gando, according to its titles, comprises a number of wealthy provinces, all lying along that great West-African river which opens such an easy access into this continent, or on its branches; although nobody who stays in the capital for any length of time would suppose that it holds such a preeminent rank. I shall give some further details respecting these provinces in the Appendix*; here I will only enumerate them by name. They are, the western half of Kebbi, Maúri or A'rewá, Zabérma, Déndina (comprising Kénga-koy and Zágha), a great part of Gurma (comprising the provinces of Galaijo, Toróde, Yágha, and Libtáko), with a small portion of Borgu or Barba, a large portion of Yoruba with the capital Alóri or Ilórin, and, on the east side of the river, the provinces of Yaúri and Núpe or Nyffi. But at that time most of these provinces were plunged into an abyss of anarchy, which could not fail to impart to the capital a more sombre aspect than it may possess in general.

* See Appendix VI.

204

CHAP. LIX.

THE PROVINCE OF KEBBI AND ITS RIVER. -THE SALT VALLEY

Saturday,

OF FOGHA.. -REACH THE NIGER.

Ar length I was allowed to proceed on my June 4th. journey, which now soon promised to become of overwhelming interest, as I was approaching that great African river which has been the object of so much discussion and individual ambition for so long a period. There had been a very heavy thunderstorm during the night, accompanied by a great abundance of rain, which lasted till late in the morning, and delayed my setting out for a considerable time. It was almost eleven o'clock when we at length left the western gate of the town, or the kófan-Jéga, and entered the open fields, where the crop was already shooting forth. Keeping along the rocky ground bordering the valley on the north side, we soon had a specimen of the swamps which during the rainy season are formed in these deep valleys of Kebbi, while we beheld here also extensive ricegrounds, the first which I saw under actual cultivation. But the guide, who was to accompany me to the very western extremity of the territory of Khalílu, having not yet arrived, we made only a short march of about six miles, and took up our quarters in a